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This is my Real Life Story: Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams. It is hightime that I should share my life with you all. So that something may be done to save this Galaxy. Please write to: bangasanskriti.sahityasammilani@gmail.comThis Blog is all about Black Untouchables,Indigenous, Aboriginal People worldwide, Refugees, Persecuted nationalities, Minorities and golbal RESISTANCE.

GREEN PEACE episode has not finished as yet, Government of India cancelled the licence of 4,470 more NGOs.

We have to take notice of the fact which set of NGOs the government chose to dismantle as RSS has got the greatest number of NGOs and NO Action is being taken against them as they happen to be connected directly with the PMO.

Palash Biswas

GREEN PEACE episode has not finished as yet, Government of India cancelled the licence of 4,470 more NGOs.True ,many NGOs do not file returns and many NGOs as I know,very reputed institutions registered as NGOs may be booked for money laundering.It would be better to disclose the status of all NGOs instead of selecting some NGOs and acting against chosen NGOs only!

I have seen the growth of NGOs in Uttarakhand after Tehri Dam project started and I have seen many activists becoming NGO directors and we know about their projects.

True,NGOs have never been regulated as they were used to make the Civil society to minimize government control on governance and NGOs were part of policy making during all these years of neo liberal economic reforms.Indeed, some NGOs worked as safety measure hijacking the mass movement to ensure NO Resistance whatsoever for projects involving billion billion dollars!

But we know that many social activists are working from this NGO platform to sustain civic and human rights.

We have to take notice of the fact which set of NGOs the government chose to dismantle as RSS has got the greatest number of NGOs and NO Action is being taken against them as they happen to be connected directly with the PMO.

In another round of action against erring NGOs (non-governmental organisations), the government has cancelled the licence of 4,470 such entities that surprisingly included a number of top universities, Supreme Court Bar Association and Escorts Heart Institute, which bars them from receiving foreign funds.

The decision to cancel the registration of these entities under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act has been taken by the union home ministry after examination of their activities that allegedly include non-filing of annual returns and other anomalies.

All associations were given proper notice by the foreigners division of the home ministry with adequate time to reply before their FCRA licences were cancelled, official sources said.

PM Modi had given the go ahead to the Indian Army for "hot pursuit" of militants into Myanmar.Thus,Ghuskar Maar Rahe Hain!

No chance of withdrawal of AFSPA, Army gets free hand to kill!

Palash Biswas

Irom Sharmila speaks to NDTV in Delhi

No chance of withdrawal of ARMED FORCE Special Power Act,AFSA as Army gets free hand to kill Insurgency.In the first such cross-border operation, special forces of the army in coordination with the air force today carried out a surgical strike inside Myanmar, killing nearly 20 insurgents of the group. In the biggest counter-insurgency operation carried out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's year-old government, the Indian army entered Myanmar to strike militants involved in an attack last week that killed 20 soldiers.

As the ARMY Operation strategy seems to be,with various insurgent groups joining hands,and Thursday's killing of 20 Indian Army soldiers, New Delhi must move fast and on several tracks.

Media reports confirm,in a pro-active strike, Army on Monday carried out an operation along the India-Myanmar border inflicting "significant casualties" on two groups of Northeast insurgents, suspected to be involved in the killing of 20 soldiers in Manipur last week

Meanwhile, Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore disclosed today that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given the go ahead to the Indian Army for "hot pursuit" of militants into Myanmar.

"Its become a habit for these militants to strike at the Indian Army or paramilitary forces or citizens of the nation and then cross over into safe havens being confident of the fact that Indian Armed forces will not pursue them," he told a TV channel.

"This message is now very clear for all those who harboured intentions of terror on our country. Unprecedented though, but our PM has taken a very bold step and given a go ahead for hot pursuit into Myanmar," the minister said.

"Therefore, we are confirming that Indian armed forces crossed over into Myanmar and carried out strikes on two of the militant camps, annihilating the entire camps and they have returned back safely," he added.

Asked whether India will extend this strategy to other sectors like the western side, implying Pakistan, the minister said, "its undoubtedly a message to all nations that harbours any terror intentions, be it the west or the specific country where we went in right now. Even if there are groups within a country that harbours terror intentions, we will choose the time and place of hitting them," he said.

However, Irom Sharmila, human rights activist from Manipur has blamed the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) for the gruesome attack on Indian Army soldiers on Thursday morning. The Act gives the army sweeping emergency powers in troubled areas.

"Yesterday's incident happened where AFSPA is fully applied so there is no use of AFSPA. The Government should change their policies and programs because violence creates only violence," Ms Sharmila told NDTV. She was in Delhi in connection with a pending case from 2006 in a local court.

In conversation with Subhajit Sengupta, anti-AFSPA activist Irom Sharmila condemned the ambush on an Army convoy which killed 18 soldiers and called it inhumane. However, she also highlighted that Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) did not protect anyone and needed to be repealed immediately.

She highlighted that Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) did not protect anyone and needed to be repealed immediately.

Media reports the number of the killed insurgents as varying as the operation intensified.Some say 15 ,some other twenty.The toll has to rise, howevee , and Indian state is all set to shed the image of a SOFT State!

India remains silent on Myanmar Rohinga Muslim Killing episode and this diplomacy is paying back.As the Indian Army launched a massive combing operation in Manipur's border areas post the ambush that killed 18 soldiers, strategic experts said India needs to coordinate with Myanmar if the terrorist bases in that country have to be destroyed.

Media reports from New Delhi says that Special forces of the Indian Army on Tuesday carried out a surgical strike inside Myanmar, slaying about 15 insurgents of the groups believed to be responsible for the deadly Manipur ambush!

Mind you,On June 4 Indian Army trucks were attacked with 'Lathod guns' and grenades by suspected terrorists of NSCN (Khaplang) killing 18 Army men and injuring 15 others in Moltung area of Chandel district of Manipur.

The first truck carrying about 5-6 soldiers also had barrels of fuel which exploded taking out the trucks behind it.

The second truck was carrying about 18-19 soldiers while the rest of the about 46 member-strong convoy were in the other trucks.

The bodies of majority of the soldiers were charred completely.

The strike was carried out by commandos on specific intelligence input in coordination with Myanmarese authorities, with the Army saying that "significant casualties" had been inflicted on two militant groups believed to be NSCN(K) and KYKL.

Sources said about 15 insurgents were killed in the assault with no casualties among the soldiers.

Addressing a press conference Major General Randhir Singh said, "This was done at two different locations, along the Nagaland and Manipur border," and added, "Significant casualties have been inflicted on the militants."

He revealed that Manipur massacre militants were killed near Myanmar border after specific intelligence was received about the militants.

He also revealed that Myanmar was cooperating with the India Army in their anti-insurgency operations.

"We are in communication with Myanmar authorities and we have traditionally had close relationship with Myanmar Army," Singh said.

"We look forward to working with them to combat terrorism in future too," Major General stated, as per ANI.

Noting that the army had been on "high alert" after Manipur attack, Singh said that in the course of last few days, credible intelligence was received about further attacks that were being planned within Indian territory.

While Singh said the operation was carried out "along the Indo-Myanmar border at two locations, sources said the strike was carried out inside Myanmar with the coordination of local authorities, as per PTI.

The Diplomat reports:

Indian soldiers were returning home with their bags after serving a tour in the region when the ambush took place, catching them off guard. Media reports say that this is the deadliest attack against the Indian army in recent years. Some suggest that the Indian army has not suffered such casualties since the Kargil War against Pakistan in 1999.

The militant-infested state of Manipur has seen relative peace for quite some time, but these killings have broken the lull and drawn the nation's attention once again to the problem of insurgency in the northeastern state, which shares a long border with Myanmar.

Various reports suspect the involvement of a new group called the United National Liberation Front of Western South East Asia (ULFSEA), a conglomerate of various insurgent organizations based in Manipur and neighboring areas with its headquarters in the jungles of Myanmar. The group is supposedly led by SS Khaplang, who is the head of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN). A few months ago, a decade-long ceasefire agreement between the Indian government and the Naga group was terminated. The attack is meant to be a reminder to the Indian government about the strength of the NSCN's Khaplang faction or NSCN(K),which is largely based in Myanmar.

Since 1997, there has been a ceasefire agreement with the Nagaland and Manipur-based Isak-Muivah group of the NSCN, the most powerful Naga group. New Delhi went into an informal ceasefire with the Khaplang faction later on and this helped in maintaining relative peace in the Naga-dominated regions of the northeast. But early this year the Indian government terminated the agreement with the NSCN(K).

"Thursday's ambush could be Khaplang's message that he can still hit back within Indian territory in many different ways, other than dramatically announcing the arrival of ULFSEA," writes Pradip Phanjoubam in The Wire.

Rajeev Bhattacharya, a Northeast India-based journalist who visited the headquarters of the ULFSEA in Myanmar in 2012, says that the "new outfit has been created to give a greater punch to the independence movement of different separatist groups in the North East."

He also adds that such a high profile attack has some "strategic purpose for the insurgents.""It galvanizes the cadres and help them recruit more," opines Bhattacharya, who has recently written a book titled Rendezvous with Rebels, an account of his 800-mile journey into the den of insurgent groups in the jungles of Myanmar and his interactions with all the senior rebel leaders from the northeast.

In an interview with The Diplomat, Bhattacharya notes that "rebel groups, through such attacks, want to tell the administration that the Indian troops should leave the state."

The central government reacted angrily to the latest development. The army sent extra troops to the region and firm instructions have been given to the military to find the rebels and confront them. But such a knee-jerk reaction usually ends up killing innocent people, thereby alienating the region further.

This has been a chronic problem. India has always seen the northeast through the prism of security and there has never been much interest in New Delhi in using a political approach to the issue of separatism. Military means are taken for granted as a solution.

"From day one there has been refusal to address it politically," notes Angomcha Bimol Akoijam of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). "They use a carrot and stick policy: use military intervention and try to buy peace by distributing money. But it does not address the issue," adds Akoijam.

Even the military has its own limitations. Most of the insurgent groups operating in Manipur and neighboring areas are based in Myanmar, which shares a long and porous border with India. Myanmar's cooperation is important for nailing down the militants. The irony is that the Khaplang faction holds a ceasefire agreement with the neighboring government. Besides, Myanmar itself is facing a tough time in negotiating with many militant groups operating within its territory.

Bhutan and Bangladesh have helped India in cracking down on rebel groups taking shelter within their borders. Will Myanmar also fall in line? Past assurances from Myanmar have not yielded any positive results.

However, before India looks outside for support it has to set its own house in order. It has to seriously examine why the insurgency in the northeast has been so persistent, even after over six decades of independence. Is the insurgency just a law and order problem or a socio-economic issue rooted in the unique historic context in which the northeast has evolved over the years? Why does the region remain emotionally alienated from New Delhi?

"If you compare [it] to the Kashmir problem, India's approach to the militancy in the northeast is completely different. It is always law and order. There is no required political approach to the problem. This is the part of the general orientation towards the region," says Akoijam, the JNU professor.

There are over 30 insurgent groups active in Manipur itself. In recent years, the government has managed to neutralize a majority of them, but the political problem that allows so many underground groups to remain active has never been addressed.

The first reaction of the Indian government after Thursday's attack was to reinforce its military presence in the region and hunt down the rebels without an acknowledgement that such approaches have led to failure in the past. The Indian government needs to find a new way to deal with this problem.

During their second day of discussions in the resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the German Alps on Monday, the leaders of the major imperialist powers affirmed their commitment to a policy of escalating strategic and military pressure against Russia

The Reversal of Kerry's Ukraine Statement Came From Obama, Not NulandBy Eric Zuesse

When Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland on May 15th contradicted her boss John Kerry's statement of three days earlier, in which Kerry had warned Ukraine's President Petro Petroshenko not to violate the Minsk II agreement, and not to invade Crimea, and not to re-invade Donbass, the source of this reversal was actually U.S. President Barack Obama, and not Victoria Nuland (as the State Department had reported)

10 Reasons The TPP Is Not A 'Progressive' Trade AgreementBy Ralph Nader

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is formally described as a trade and foreign investment agreement between 12 nations -- Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. The White House is now pressuring Congress to Fast Track through the TPP. Fast Track authority, a Congressional procedure to limit time for debate and prohibit amendments to proposed legislation, has already passed in the Senate, although only after an unexpectedly rough ride. Here are 10 reasons why the TPP is explicitly not a "progressive" trade agreement

Barack Obama wants to bring the world into international fascist control more than has ever yet existed on this planet. If he succeeds, he will thus be the most harmful political leader in world history. His deals must be stopped. They are horrendous

That message of courage and compassion will not -- and cannot-- always prevail. But if we take note of it, and even more, if, learning from its example, we take action to exemplify it ourselves, then it offers us a path out of childish fear, out of panicked collusion in war, and out, perhaps, of war's mad grip. We ourselves arrive in a notably better world when we determine to build it for others. Our own education, our own victory over fear, and our own arrival as equals in an adult world, can begin or begin again – now. So let us begin

Exposing Lies of Empire by Andre Vltchek is an 800-page tour of the world between 2012 and 2015 without a Western tour guide. It ought to make you spitting-mad furious, then grateful for the enlightenment, and then ready to get to work

I wasn't expecting much. So I wasn't disappointed when I didn't receive much. I'm talking about the BBC Panorama programme on GMOs that aired in the UK on Monday 8 June. The title of the programme was 'GM Food – Cultivating Fear'. So it was pretty much clear what was to follow

The Zionist Lobby sees "delegitimization of Israel" as an existential threat. The BDS movement seems even more dangerous than the non-existent Iranian nuclear arsenal. But the real problem is the Palestinian people. They are still in their country that the Zionist colonizers regard as theirs as many members of Netanyahu's government mentioned recently. The problem for the West is not BDS, which is overdue, but rather Israel's "ethno-religious-supremacists" regime, which looks like an "Islamic State" disguised in Jewish garments

Now the question is why government and its agencies can be responsible for scrapping telecommunication services in the valley? What are the objectives and motives behind scrapping mobile service? For finding out the answer to these questions one needs to go back into the history and understand the context in which development has taken place

RatnaRaj Brahma So What ? Whats your problem Mr. Intellectual ? Better an aggressive India than a soft meek India, infact i would give full credits to Modi Sarkar if it continues to pursue such military operations in countries where Anti-India forces have taken refuge...See More

Journalist burnt alive and its no big news in aSecular India

'Low-level' journalists who do not conform to majority views are just collateral damage

Indian mainstream media, which made an outrageous song and dance for trivial instances like when an abusive journalist was merely shoved around, has preferred to give short shrift to a 'small-time', vernacular journalist's alleged fiery murder by policemen on the orders of a state minister, whose misdeeds he exposed.

The journalist, Jagendra Singh, 42, from Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, had exposed a lot of things against the minister, including land-grabbing, illegal mining, etc.

At first, the minister's associates assaulted him on 28 April 2015, but no one was arrested. On 15th May, a first information report (FIR) was booked against Jagendra Singh under Section 307 (attempt to murder) and 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The police went to "arrest" him on 1st June, but claimed that he went to the terrace of his house and set himself afire.

He succumbed to burn injuries at King George Medical University (KGMU) in Lucknow on 8th June.

Read more

No one in the 'national' media thought it fit to report the news at first, but hell was raised by furious family members who refused to perform his last rites unless an FIR was filed against the minister, the cops and his associates. The police had no option and a case was finally registered.

Rammurti Singh Verma, who is the Backward Class Welfare Minister of State (MoS) in the Akhilesh Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Partygovernment, and his aides had been threatening him with dire consequences since long for exposing his misdeeds, the slain journalist's family alleged.

What was worse, an anganwadi worker had accused this minister of gang-raping her along with his aides. Only a couple of local Hindi newspapers carried this story. Jagendra Singh had also reported this.

The alleged gang-rape occurred in a Public Works' Department (PWD) 'guest house', the favourite haunt of politicians, on 15th April. The local police had refused to register a case, but the victim went to court, which ordered an inquiry. The victim also alleged that the minister and his henchmen threatened her with dire consequences if she reported the incident to anybody. (http://www.nyoooz.com/lucknow/115362/state-minister-rammurti-faces-gangrape-allegation)

In both these cases, the officer in charge of the local police station, Sriprakash Rai, has been named as an accused. Mr Rai had threated the rape victim against filing an FIR and in the journalist's case had poured petrol and set him on fire, it is alleged.

The journalist had repeated his allegations against minister Verma and police officer Rai while being treated in a serious condition in the hospital.

Again, shamelessly, in the MSM, there were only cursory, inside page stories, no prime time mention—forget high-decibel and outrageous debates—on national channels with the usual MSM suspects. Was it "tyranny of distance"? Or was it something else?

This writer looked at quite a few online newspapers. All were cursory police press-release reporting, no mention about the gang-rape at all, except for passing mention in the Hindustan Times (Delhi), which again buried this story on Page 11 as a single column news item.

I also took a look at 1:26pm on 10 June 2015, and there was no mention on the front page of NDTV's website, for example. I checkedIndia Today's website: Zilch (Remember the hell raised by Mr Sardesai and his associates?). Firstpost: Zilch.

Oh! I forgot, many in the MSM don't consider some anti-corruption crusaders or social media activists as 'journalists' outside their definitions. He ran an 'online' Hindi paper and so did not belong to their elite 'fraternity'.

The alleged shoving around of Rajdeep Sardesai in New York was made a big issue by the MSM. They tried to gloss over the fact that it was this elite journalist who provoked the people and abused them.

But 'low-level' journalists who do not conform to the majority views are just collateral damage.

No wonder that the MSM today is the subject of hate, having replaced politicians as Number 1 crooks.

How Will Kerala Be Affected by the Koodankulam Project?

S P Udayakumar

When the people in and around the southern tip of Tamil Nadu rose up against the Koodankulam nuclear power project, people all over Kerala from all walks of life extended their wholehearted support to the struggle. The people of Kerala know very well that our fisherfolks' right to life and livelihood, our people's food and nutrition security, our state economy, the entire Malayali community's overall well-being, especially the interests of our future generations, will be drastically affected.

However, the government of India and the government of Tamil Nadu have chosen to ignore the valiant struggle that is being supported by 8 crores of Tamils and 4 crores of Malayalis. In fact, the governments are pressing ahead with their plan of setting up four to six more nuclear power plants, a reprocessing plant and other assorted installations at the Koodankulam site.

'Power Park' Means Added Risks

Setting up a sprawling mega power plant complex (euphemistically called, "power park") in our midst is beset with many dangers and massive problems. For instance, when the reactors in Fukushima Daiichi "power park" exploded one after the other, the Japanese authorities extended the evacuation zone to 20 kms and people even beyond that point fled to save their lives. People in Tokyo, some 150 kms away from Fukushima, faced radiation threats and severe anxiety.

Another "power park" exploded at Chernobyl in 1986. The world is going to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the deadly nuclear power plant accident on April 26, 2016. Fukushima, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island accidents prove to us that "power parks" are neither safe nor acceptable. When the radioactive fall-out from Chernobyl is still troubling much of Europe even today and the Fukushima radiation ended up in California crossing the vast Pacific Ocean, any untoward incident at Koodankulam will not spare Kerala.

When a catastrophic tsunami hit our area on December 26, 2004, the Koodankulam authorities claimed that "[w]hen the design was taken up in the early 1990s and the Detailed Project Report was prepared, Chapter 2.1.2.2…has taken into account the possibilities of a tsunami strike" (The Hindu, January 12, 2005). This kind of complacent and dismissive attitude toward the local people's right to life and livelihood is very troubling indeed.

Impact on Fish and Fisherfolks

As far back as in October 2006, the Kerala Matsya Thozhilali Federation said the Koodankulam project would have a devastating effect on the Kerala coast. They said: "The commissioning of this project will spell the end of `God's Own Country'. People in Kerala, right from the Tamil Nadu border to Kochi, will be affected by radioactive waste from the plant. The discharge of hot water with radioactive pollutants into the sea will increase the temperature of the seawater in the coastal areas and drive away or kill fish. The consequent depletion of fish stocks will push fishermen into further poverty and misery". The federation also said that the social cost of the project would outweigh the benefits in Kerala.

The Koodankulam nuclear power plant will wreck the lives and livelihoods of fisher people in Kerala and southern Tamil Nadu. When the sea water is heated up and contaminated with coolant waters and radioactive effluents, the fish catch will be severely affected and there will not be a market for the contaminated fish. All this will result in increased poverty and misery of the fisher people in Kerala.

Impact on Tourism

With six to eight 1000 MW nuclear power plants, a reprocessing plant, dangerous nuclear waste, and a possible weapons facility (because Koodankulam is far away from Pakistan and China) at the Koodankulam site, we can be sure that tourism in Kerala will dwindle gradually. The sea water and fish will be contaminated, and the air, water, food and everything in Kerala will be polluted. Both Indian and foreign tourists will avoid our sea and sea food and the whole state for fear of radiation exposure.

We all know that Kerala is one of the best tourism centers in the world. Prince Abdulla Ali Ahmed Al-Saihati from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said once: "If there is a heaven on Earth, it is Kerala. The pristine beauty and natural resources if complemented with infrastructure facilities would work marvels. I had a backwater cruise. It was so heartening that I feel like reliving the experience yet again."

The Kerala State government earned a sum of Rs.10,000 crores (US $ 200 crores) during 2006-2007 with a 30% increase over the previous year's income. There were 67 lakh tourists (domestic tourists 62 lakhs and foreign tourists 5 lakhs) during that year. In fact, people from all over the world come to Kerala seeking indigenous medical treatment in Ayurveda and Sidha. With a dangerous nuclear power complex polluting the sea and the beaches so perilously, tourists will not come to the state that may turn into "Cancer's Own Country" and the tourism industry will take a severe beating. Any deterioration of tourism in Kerala will affect the overall economy of the state badly.

In case of an accident, or a terrorist attack in Koodankulam, "God's Own Country" will become "Satan's Own Country". Even if such an accident or attack does not happen, the daily intake of radioactive nuclides and low-level radiation will do enough damage to our people in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Alleppey districts and beyond.

Westerly Winds, Ocean Currents, and Seismicity

The westerly winds with high moisture content that blow in and around the southernmost tip of India will bring high amounts of radioactive nuclides such as Iodine, Cesium, Strontium and Tellurium to our door steps in Kerala. Similarly, the ocean currents near the southernmost tip of India show that waters from the Bay of Bengal shores flow down to the Arabian Sea and vice versa. For instance, during the 2014 Tsunami, scores of dead bodies from Tamil Nadu were washed ashore on the Kerala coast.

It is a regular practice in India to dispose the low-level liquid waste from nuclear power plants into the nearby sea. When a massive amount of low-level liquid waste from the Koodankulam plants is dumped into the sea, and even a greater amount of hot and mildly radioactive coolant sea water is pumped back into the sea all the 24 hours seven days a week throughout a year, we will find ourselves at the receiving end here in Kerala.

It is also important to remember that the southern tip of the country is seismically vulnerable and has experienced quite a few small tremors. There have been series of mild tremors in Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli districts of Tamil Nadu over the past few years. On May 19, 2008, there were mild tremors at Leepuram, Chinna Muttom, Kanyakumari and some 40 other villages in Kanyakumari district and at Koottapuli in Tirunelveli district. All these fishing hamlets are just a few kilometres away from Koodankulam (The Hindu, May 21, 2008). In August 2009, there were tremors in many villages around the Koodankulam nuclear power project. The central and state government authorities are completely silent about these repeated tremors and just brush these reports aside as non-events. Recently, the entire subcontinent has been devastated by earthquakes, tremors and after-shocks. Cyclones, huge monsoon thunderstorms, unrelenting sea erosion and increasing global warming also beleaguer our coast and inland areas.

Uranium fuel rods for the Koodankulam nuclear power plants are being brought through the Thiruvananthapuram airport just like ordinary cargo and it is transported on our roads without giving any warning or even basic safety information to our people. In future, the spent fuel and other high-level nuclear waste will be shunted back and forth on our roads and through our communities. Furthermore, the nuclear authorities have not conducted any safety drills or shared any disaster management plans with the residents of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and other districts in Kerala.

Given this situation, it is high time the people of Kerala, the civil society and the political society in Kerala took a clear stand against the Koodankulam expansion plans and demanded a White Paper on the integrity and safety of the first two units in the Koodankulam nuclear power project in the larger interests of Kerala.

#FOE – A victory for APSC , Now Stand In Solidarity With Kancha Ilaiah

Those who have experienced and gone through the students' movement in the late sixties, seventies and early eighties may argue on the political limitations of the present day student community as well as youth. The changes in the political character of the youth and students are also determined by the social contexts in which they are placed in history, apart from various subjective factors. The consolidation of globalisation and communalism coupled with a slow and steady emergence of a Silent Emergency have also played a role in the non-articulation of the students and youth in many occasions. However, the same experiences of the same tendencies today are also causing a radical shift in the political character of the students and youth, forcing them to articulate crucial social issues in a more radical but yet in a more practical manner, which was more or less limited among the young dreamers of the seventies. The recent developments, debates and protests on the freedom of expression and organisation of Ambedkar-Periyar study circle is one such example, whereby the students and youth all over the country forced the HRD Ministry as well as the management of IIT-M to bend down, through the sheer consistent activities, skills, energies and protests of the young blood in this country. `Following Furore, IIT-M Lifts Ban on Ambedkar-Periyar study circle', reported The Hindu newspaper dated June 8, 2015. This is certainly a victory, not only for the Ambedkar-Periyar study circle IIT-M, but also for all those in India who have collectively asserted on academic freedom and freedom of expression, demanding lifting of the ban. It has also exposed the character of casteist and communal forces.

Around the same time of banning Ambedkar-Periyar study circle, IIT-M, cases has been filed by the Hyderabad police against well known critical writer and academic on caste issues and other discriminations in India, Kancha Ilaiah on a complaint by Vishwa Hindu Parishad. The complaint was filed on the basis of Ilaiah's article Devudu Prajasamya Vada Kada? (Is God a democrat?) published in a Telugu daily on May 9. The VHP activists have pressurised the police to file cases against Kancha Ilaiah, on the basis that his writing hurt their religious sentiments. The cases have a potential to imprison Kancha Iliah up to a period of three years.

Whether people agree with everything that Kancha Ilaiah says or not, is immaterial. The action undertaken by the VHP-Police duo is a clear and strong representation of the growing fascism in the academic circles as well as in intellectual and cultural fabric. Prof. Kancha Ilaiah, 63, is certainly one of the most prominent critic and analyst on caste related issues in India today. His books include `Why I am not a Hindu', `Post-Hindu India: A Discourse in Dalit-Bahujan, Socio-Spiritual and Scientific Revolution', `God As Political Philosopher: Budha's challenge to Brahminism', `Democracy in India: A Hollow Shell', `Manatatwam' (in Telugu), and `Buffalo Nationalism: A Critique of Spiritual Fascism'.

Why do the Sangh Parivar activists get so threatened by the academic questions raised by Kancha Ilaiah? Do they feel that the Hinduism will collapse with such questioning? Is it not a symptom of the lack of faith and convictions of the Sanghis on their own religion? And to be fair on the situation, such criticisms on Hinduism were raised not just by Kancha Ilaiah, but also by stalwarts like Babasaheb Ambedkar and Periyar. Will the police slap cases under sections 153A and 295A on Ambedkar and Periyar? Will the Sangh Parivar have the guts to demand the ban of such writings by Ambedkar and Periyar?The intellectual arguments placed by Prof. Kancha Ilaiah are to be dealt with counter arguments intellectually. These discussions are not something to be dealt in a police station. Time and again the Sangh Parivar has proved its incapacities to confront intellectual arguments on intellectual terms itself. Therefore, they are forced to resort to violence and the use of police force.

The police cases on Prof. Kancha Ilaiah are symptoms of a larger disorder. Many writers, artists, film makers and theatre personalities have been victims of the growing disorder of violation of freedom of expression. When Anand Patwardhan's documentary film `Ram Ke Naam' was blocked both by the State as well as the cultural fascists on many instances, it was this expression of freedom that was expressed by many individuals, groups and even a large section of the media. Such violations on freedom of expression only resulted in wider screenings of Anand's film. The members of the theatre group Kabir Kala Manch were harassed with fabricated cases restricting their freedom of expression on social issues. Modi Government even tried to arrest the editor of Communalism Combat, Teesta Setelvad on fabricated charges, for having spoken the truth about Gujarat.

Even when the cultural fascists tried to block the mainstream film PK which had a ninety per cent Hindu crew and a Muslim film star Ameer Khan, the people of this country rejected such imposition on freedom of expression and the film became a hit. The feature film `Fire' directed by Deepa Mehta and acted by Nandita Das and Shabana Azmi also faced the same threat. But with the active participation of the sexuality groups, women's groups, secular forces and human rights groups, such violations were overcome. When journalist KK Shahina, who is the assistant editor of Open magazine today, was hunted for speaking the truth, there were not too many people in the initial stages to support. Some of the journalists in the mainstream media even tried to implicate that she was a terrorist. However, people realised the truth in a short span of time.. The screening ofSanjay Kak's film was attacked by the Sangh Parivar in Hyderabad some time back. The screening of the film `Shit' on the plight of manual scavengers in Tamil Nadu, by well known documentary film maker Amudhan, was attacked by the Sangh Parivar in Thrissur. The unity and strength expressed by various activists among the audience, forced them to retaliate. On another occasion in Thrissur, the BJP leader Gopalakrishnan lied in public that a film by a Kashmiri director, which was screened in the VIBGYOR International Film Festival, was funded by Pakistan and the Sangh Parivar destroyed the festival office and tried to stop the screening. Again, due to the unity and strength of a conscious crowd, they were forced to retaliate. Recently, the well known Tamil writer, Perumal Murugan had to withdraw his books from being distributed, out of sheer frustration due to such communal fascist attacks.

One of the most shameful among the fascist attacks on the freedom of expression was on India's most well known painter MF Hussain, who had to leave India due to such threats, expressing his sorrow and difficulty in proving himself to be an Indian, since he was a Muslim. Gyanpeeth Award winner UR Anantha Moorthy was asked to go to Pakistan by the Sangh Parivar for his critique on Modi. Journalist Syed Mohammed Kazmi had to spend time in jail as an undertrial charged with the draconian law, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Since there were no proper evidences for his fabricated case, the judge had to give him bail. The evidences and witnesses in many of these cases are least intelligently cooked up by the police. However, it has become a rule if not a norm, that most of the journalists wrote on the basis of the false information projected by the police and the Sangh Parivar. Sometimes, the possession of a mainstream Urdu newspaper is taken as an evidence to prove the terrorist links of a media person and some times a book written by Mao Tse Tung which is available in book stores is taken as a proof to establish that somebody is a violent Naxalite. In the case of Yahya Kummukkutty, who suffered in jail under UAPA without trial for so many years, the evidences were even more funnier. One of the evidences to be branded as a terrorist was that he had a book written by internationally well known writer Kahlil Gibran! Yahya got a bail recently.

Well, the list of attacks by the communal fascists on culture and freedom of expression is endless in recent times. These are only some of the examples of denial of freedom of expression by the communal forces and the state. But if you explore properly, you will be surprised to see that the list is fairly huge, especially in recent times. And with the arrival of Modi, both the Sangh Parivar and the executive machineries of the State became more assertive and more aggressive, with full confidence that there would be nobody to question the misuse of their powers.

The violation of freedom of expression of Prof. Kancha Ilaiah, however seems to be one of the latest on this list. But what is most significant here in all such cases is the fact that the freedom of expression is also linked to the freedom of people to receive such a communication process. Secondly, it is also being proven again and again that only with such assertions of the fundamental rights on freedom of expression by the people themselves, that these basic democratic rights can be protected in this country. Democracy does not exist if people do not assert their rights.

My own personal experiences on freedom of expression as a film maker are also not very different, if not with such intensity of issues involved as in the above cases. Our documentary film `Fabricated' on the fabricated cases and under trials was blocked by the Sangh Parivar using the police machinery in Alwaye around eight months back. Though they were successful in blocking that particular screening, I was delighted to hear that the organisers organised several screenings of the same film immediately after that in the same district. In Chennai, when I was invited to screen the film `Fabricated' by the well known documentary film maker Amudhan, I received a call from the Times TV saying that the Sangh Parivar had filed a complaint with the Police Commissioner that the screenings of this film must be blocked. They wanted my responses following which both Amudhan and I spoke on the channel. The support from the mainstream media on this issue was good. Perhaps due to such a support, the behaviour of the police was very decent in Chennai. There were five screenings and the police came for every screening without disrupting. The first screening was organised in a hall which belonged to a book shop and the police came to me and requested for a CD of the film. I told them to watch the film and we could give them a copy after the screening. They said, `No, sir. We will stay here and wait in the book shop itself till the screening ends.' Anyway, the intelligence people were also there in the hall, watching the film. The police did not know what to do with their time for spending one and a half hours of the screening time. So, they started looking at the books and started reading them casually. After the screening, we gave them a copy of the film. One member of the organising team told me with great excitement: `Sasi, you have made history. You made the Tamil Nadu police read books!'

At another level, the Muslim fundamentalists have been doing similar violation of freedom of expression in many Muslim countries. The cases like the attacks on writer Taslima by the Muslim fundamentalists only helped to provide a justification for the Sangh Parivar for their own actions. A section of the liberal forces got swayed by their campaigns and tried to articulate the issue in such a manner that: `If there are Hindu fundamentalists violating the human rights, so are the Muslim fundamentalists.' Needless to say that the communal articulation by a section of the Muslims on such issues, could only strengthen the Sangh Parivar, instead of weakening it. But what is most significant in this context, is to evaluate the strength of the majoritarian communal forces in relation to communal forces within the minority communities in any country. The equation for justice changes drastically from such an evaluation.

The violation of human rights and freedom of expression of Prof. Kancha Ilaiah, also indicates another grave reality today. There is also an increasing suppression on the right to dissent, a right that is being violated in many Universities and academic institutions in India, where surveillance is used as a weapon to crush dissent. I am only too relieved to find that many students and teachers have started asserting their rights in many places in India. The assertion of Ambedkar-Periyar study circle, IIT-M, and the wide solidarity actions all over the country, indicate this extremely positive trend. And I am sure, that if the students and teachers express their own freedom, they can play a major role in subverting the entire Silent Emergency that is creeping into our lives in recent history. This community will have to play a central role in the protection of freedom of expression that is enshrined in our Constitution. And I hope that in the coming future, the youth in this country will articulate more strongly against the growing fascism. Remember, it is mainly this same section of youth which was primarily responsible for resisting and removing Emergency of the seventies in India.

It is true that the students and youth during the initial stages of the last three decades have been more or less caught unaware about the erosion of freedom from their own feet. While the public spaces for protests shrank during this period, the right to organisation, the right to unionisation and the right to public discourses in campuses were tightened by a collaboration of the State along with the management of the educational institutions. The loss of values among the political party leaderships provided a public image that politics itself was a dirty word. This also accounted for the lack of strong questioning and protests from the side of the students and youth against the efforts of the State to reduce their political spaces. However, it is becoming more and more clear today that while the teenagers focused their energies on the violations by the State during the seventies, now they are forced to respond more assertively against three forces – the State, global capital and communal forces. For the youth today is under realisation that if they do not respond now, there will be no space to respond tomorrow. The radicalisation of the present day student community and youth will have to be seen from this context.

Back in history, the fascist forces in Germany also tried to do the same. Hitler knew very well that if the artists, writers, academics and cultural personalities enjoyed freedom of expression, he would never be able to maintain his power. Therefore, the first attacks always were on those who shaped the minds of the civil society so that there was no space for criticism or questioning. The idea was to shape a society under a false ideology and do everything possible to convince the people about this false ideology. And those who did not believe in such a false ideology of fascism, Hitler made sure that their lips were sealed. The Sangh Parivar is repeating the same history in India today.

Now it is time to work on the human rights violation and violation of freedom of expression of Kancha Ilaiah. The harassment on Kancha Ilaiah indicates another important signal. The message is loud and clear: `If we can do this to Kancha Iliah, then we can do it to any ordinary Dalit, Adivasi or Muslim.' It is high time that the same collective energy all over India which was expreessed in the case of Ambedkar-Periyar study circle, IITM, is exhibited on the issue of police cases on Kancha Iliah. What should be spoken, written, discussed, debated, painted or filmed can not be dictated by the Sangh Parivar. That also at a time when many of their speakers are spitting venom against the minorities openly and publicly. While the list of writers, artists, theatre personalities, film makers and academic personalities who have been targeted so far is quite long, Kancha Ilaiah is the most recent victim and appropriate symbol to take up all other such issues of violation of freedom of expression. No democracy will survive without freedom of expression.

K.P Sasi is an award winning film director and a political activist. He is also an Associate Editor of Countercurrents.org. He can be reached at kpsasi36@gmail.com

Central Executive Committee member of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and former lawmaker Hamidur Rahman Azad has issued the following statement on 9th June, 2015 protesting and gainsaying a false and politically motivated report published in Bengali Daily 'Kaler Kantha' titled "Modi gave message to leave Jamaat."

"I am severely protesting and condemning the false and politically motivated report published in Bengali Daily 'Kaler Kantha' titled "Modi gave message to leave Jamaat." This report is purely intentional and published to confuse the people. Our clear view in this regard is, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is a systematic and democratic party. It always works for the people. This party never hesitated ever to raise voice for the national interest. So what the Daily Kaler Kantha has said quoting Indian Premier Narendra Modi is their own version. Jamaat-e-Islami has no links with militancy and extremism.

To accept or denial of a party is the sole authority of the people. They would decide which party to be accepted or denied. No person or institution has the right to dictate the people in this regard. What has been stated about this matter in the Kaler Kantha report is nothing but a mockery with the people.

We are urging the authority of Kaler Kantha any such false and intentional report against Jamaat-e-Islami in future and expecting that they would publish this protest statement in tomorrow'sedition properly to lessen mass confusion. "

The United Nations, considered as the epitome and champion of human rights, has shown belligerence at the behest of Pakistan, a nation that cannot even guard the basic human rights of its own citizens. This obnoxious behaviour was evident during the recent Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) session held in June 2015, where it objected to statements voiced from Africa.

The two NGOs, 'African Technological Development Link' and 'African Technical Association' both hailing from Africa were in a letter by the Pakistani Mission described as if belonging to 'lesser human beings', blaming the entire continent of Africa and their origins as if they hailed form some other planet. Having strongly voiced the human rights violations in Baluchistan and Gilgit-Baltistan, which is an undeniable fact, and even recognised by the Pakistani Human Rights Commission, the Pakistani Government through its representation in New York has tried to suppress the voice of the oppressed.

The two African NGOs were accused of making statements on the Baluchistan Province and other areas in Pakistan, which used 'language not authorized in the UN'. The fact that the two African NGOs were stripped off their Consultative status following Pakistan's intense lobbying with the NGO Committee of the UN Human Rights Council and other countries by putting it to a vote, it has shown total disregard for human values and exhibited racial bias, for which the country itself needs to be delisted from the United Nations.

Having succeeded in removing the two NGOs at short notice (within two days), also clearly amplifies the connivance between the NGO Committee of the UNHRC and the Pakistani Mission. Since there was not adequate time to respond to the queries raised, the Pakistani Mission citing ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31 and 'politically motivated' acts got what it wanted. The move has been criticised by none other than the US, so, we hope the UN is hearing.

To uphold the spirit of the United Nations, it is earnestly requested that the NGO Committee of the UNHRC be revamped and no more be influenced by Pakistan. The very spirit with which the NGOs are put on the roster is defeated, and the voice of the poor and deprived will remain unheard.

So what political alternative do Commies like you have ? Collectivisaton and Communisation of agriculture, peasants suffering under a totalitarian state, struggling in the fields everyday filling up state quotas while they starve to death, when peasants refuse to sell grains to state at low price send the red Army to confiscate grains and send millions of camps to gulags for re-education, if they want to emigrate to the cities prohibit the peasants to go to the cities by circulating internal passports for peasants, still the infallible Communist Party under the wise visionary leadership of Stalin, Mao will fool them by showing them Communist utopia. The workers were promised freedom from exploitation but will live a life of slavery, working 8 to 12 hours a day for a paltry wage with shortage of housing, food stuffs and consumer goods, yet Communist party members become fat by enjoying priveleges, yet the Workers will be fooled by the Party leaders shouting- " Subah Hogi Comrades " when the communist paradise have come everything will be fine, so continue working like slaves. To forget hardships assemble at Red square on a cold frosty day and shout from empty stomachs at the Red Army/PLA marching, sing songs about Socialist Motherland, Carry huge photos and banners of great leaders and march and wave to the leaders watching from top. The Whole country becoming nationalised, numerous office sprang up with bureaucracy and Red tapism wrecking havoc on the common people, bribe a party member to get the jobs done quickly, remain in ques for food from govt food stores, while Fat Communist leaders suffer no privation they will get food from special stores, get luxury goods from abroad. They get food from special farms, enjoy holidays at govt resorts and dachas and rest houses and sanitoriums, where the common people are not allowed to enter. ENJOY COMMUNIST PARADISE- ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN THE REST !!!!